Four Runway Heathrow 'Would Cut Gatwick By Half'

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Report by NATS says expansion would block flight paths to other London airports

Pressure group 2M believes that the study, by air traffic control service NATS, which has been submitted to the Sir Howard Davies airports commission, says Gatwick, Stansted, and Luton airports would all see their capacity cut by half to accommodate an expanded Heathrow.

Overall aviation capacity would drop by 9 per cent as the new routes into Heathrow would block more flights than they could deliver, according to the report.

Ravi Govindia, Leader of Wandsworth Council, said:
“Davies has been given the job of finding a long term solution to the UK’s airport capacity needs. Now we know that whatever that solution is, it can’t be Heathrow.

“With a third Heathrow runway likely to be almost full by 2030 the pressure for a fourth would be enormous. Few people will believe promises that the currently proposed expansion would be the last.

“Davies should rule out expansion at Heathrow now – the environmental case against even one extra runway is overwhelming - but what has become clear from the airspace experts is that there are better longer term alternatives which spread capacity more evenly.“

The NATS study concludes that a distributed airport network would reduce the impact of localised incidents and be more resilient. The report shows that a London system with the two existing runways at Heathrow and one extra at both Gatwick and Stansted would yield a 26% increase in overall capacity.

To let Sir Howard Davies know your views on Heathrow expansion email Howard.Davies@airports.gsi.gov.uk

To let the Transport Secretary know your views email
patrick.mcloughlin@dft.gsi.gov.uk

To report noise complaints to Heathrow email
noise_complaints@heathrow.com or call 0800 344 844.

Wandsworth Council is a founding member of the 2M Group which is an all-party alliance of local authorities concerned about the environmental impact of Heathrow operations on their communities. Members are not anti-Heathrow but work together to improve the environment and protect the quality of life for local people.


March 14, 2014-->